I just work the problem in the Agile way with a combination of spikes and user stories, maybe contained within an epic if it's that big and hairy.
I've got one right now that I'm working on that's been a bit tough to define. I've been working this spike for the entirety of the current sprint. Users tell me it's a big problem but can't really give me a clear description of what is needed to correct the issue. It's probably part business process/policy with software changes to match the desired policy. Getting to the desired policy though is where there's a lack of agreement. Until product owners agree, it will be difficult to move forward.
In other cases, it's been a bit easier but getting to the root cause (to use one of my least favorite buzz words) of the problem is the first thing. I've usually found that it goes back to data so that tends to be the first place I look. For example, a column in a table can be null but the code expects it not to ever be null. If good tests are in place, this isn't too difficult usually. But, when working with legacy code, there may not be tests available so it requires really digging into code that might have been written 10+ years ago.
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I just work the problem in the Agile way with a combination of spikes and user stories, maybe contained within an epic if it's that big and hairy.
I've got one right now that I'm working on that's been a bit tough to define. I've been working this spike for the entirety of the current sprint. Users tell me it's a big problem but can't really give me a clear description of what is needed to correct the issue. It's probably part business process/policy with software changes to match the desired policy. Getting to the desired policy though is where there's a lack of agreement. Until product owners agree, it will be difficult to move forward.
In other cases, it's been a bit easier but getting to the root cause (to use one of my least favorite buzz words) of the problem is the first thing. I've usually found that it goes back to data so that tends to be the first place I look. For example, a column in a table can be null but the code expects it not to ever be null. If good tests are in place, this isn't too difficult usually. But, when working with legacy code, there may not be tests available so it requires really digging into code that might have been written 10+ years ago.